Stolen car suspects arrested after crash near Visalia

VISALIA, Calif. (KFSN) -- A fast and dangerous ride for a pair of stolen vehicle suspects ended with a crash near Visalia.

It happened at around noon Tuesday, on Avenue 256 and Mooney Boulevard.

It all started with a stolen vehicle report out of Lindsay.

Lt. Duane Cornett from the Tulare County Sheriff's Office says a detective spotted a car matching the description just outside Porterville.

He followed it, Cornett says, but never caught up with it, and never started a pursuit. The car was just going too fast.

"At times it was being broadcast that it was traveling over 100 miles an hour," Cornett said.

That detective lost sight of the car between Tipton and Tulare, but another sheriff's sergeant saw the car fly by him closer to Visalia, as he was getting gas.

By the time he caught up with the car at Avenue 256 and Mooney Boulevard, the crash had already happened.

It's unclear exactly what happened, but Cornett says the suspect's car crashed into another vehicle.

The woman in that car had minor injuries.

"With the speeds that were involved, and the fact that it was a stolen car, they had total disregard for the public safety," Cornett said. "That showed when she crashed into that vehicle that had nothing to do with it, just wrong place at the wrong time. And then to flee on foot, knowing that you just caused a severe crash."

Cornett says both suspects, the driver and a minor passenger, assaulted a sheriff's sergeant as they were taken into custody, but he wasn't injured.

The driver has been identified as 21-year-old Angelica Chapa.

The Tulare County Regional Auto Theft Task Force is investigating the crash and the stolen car.